Japan Steels Agree on Higher Hot Coil Export Price to Korea

Japanese integrated steel makers are expected to agree with South Korean flat steel re-rollers including Hyundai Hysco to raise their hot coil export price to FOB US$ 530 for April-June shipment, up by about US$ 30 from January-March. South Korean re-rollers are likely to accept the hike under tighter supply and higher Asian market price of hot coil. Japanese integrated steels offered the hike by about US$ 40. South Korean re-rollers disapproved the hike range when the re-rollers were suffered from worse profitability due to higher zinc price. However, the Asian hot coil supply is tighter when POSCO of South Korea reduces hot coil supply due to the planned maintenance of hot rolling mill. Japanese steels are busy to meet higher demand for domestic automobile and other manufacturers and have no additional capacity to increase the supply volume. Asian steel sheet market price is increasing. Asian major steel makers, such as Bao Steel in China and China Steel in Taiwan, raised their selling prices against their domestic market for April-June. South Korean re-rollers seemed to postpone lower purchasing price to enough hot coil supply since they planned output expansions.